Graessle Tradition

Graessle Tradition

The Graessle family legal roots in Florida run deep. William S. Graessle is a third-generation University of Florida College of Law graduate and Florida lawyer, and the first “Gator lawyer” who is the child of two “Gator lawyers.” William S. Graessle’s  maternal grandfather, O.S. Thacker, practiced law in Kissimmee, Florida following his graduation from the University of Florida College of Law in 1927 until his death in 1975. His mother, Lois Thacker Graessle, and his father, Judge Albert W. Graessle, Jr., met in law school at the University of Florida and married after graduating in June 1941. Lois Graessle became one of Florida’s first 150 women lawyers. Despite being well- qualified, she could not obtain a job as an attorney because of her gender. Instead, she became an advocate for social justice and was awarded the Florida Bar Foundation’s Medal of Honor Award in 2003 for a life of advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable members of society. His father, Judge Graessle, interrupted his  private law practice in Jacksonville to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Prior to his appointment as a judge, he served as President of the Jacksonville Bar Association from 1951-1952 and on the Florida Bar Board of Governors. Governor Leroy Collins appointed him as a Circuit Court Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit in 1956, a position in which he served until his retirement in 1978.

Timeline:

1927: O.S. Thacker graduates from the University of Florida College of law and founds the firm that would become Thacker, Thacker, Thacker & Thacker in Kissimmee, Florida.

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1941: Lois T. Graessle, one of Florida’s first 150 women lawyers, and Albert William Graessle, Jr., graduate from the University of Florida College of Law in 1941. They married the summer following graduation so Lois’ brother Clarence, also an attorney, could attend before he and Al Graessle began their military service during WWII.

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1951: Al Graessle elected president of the Jacksonville Bar Association.
1956: Al Graessle appointed a circuit court judge.

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1985: William S. Graessle serves as a law clerk to Justice Raymond Ehrlich of the Florida Supreme Court.

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1995: William S. Graessle named Partner at Holland & Knight.
1996: William S. Graessle establishes his own firm.
1998: William S. Graessle becomes Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in appellate practice.
2019: William S. Graessle, P.A., begins a new chapter in historic Riverside in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

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